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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Catching up

I've been quiet this
week. I'd like to say it's because I've been preparing my A-Z
challenge posts but, uh, no. (More on that in a moment). I have been
trying to get a few things wrapped up before the mayhem begins on
Sunday though. I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last week
and it was enough to get me started reading the trilogy I've had
since Christmas. I finished the last one last night and, although I
thought they could have done with a serious edit, (really I don't
care about all the specs of Lisbeth's laptop, just tell me it was
'top-of-the-range), I was hooked enough to read them one after the
other. Yeah, that's my review.

I also went to see The
Hunger Games at the cinema with the girls on Tuesday. I thought the
last time I went to the cinema was to see Rugrats go Wild but the
girls reminded me that I took them to see Nanny McPhee. That was in
2005, so going on Tuesday was a big deal. I would happily have waited
for the DVD but it was lovely for the three of us to do something
together. I was pleasantly surprised that, including us, there were
only twelve people watching. I don't do well in crowds, so that
helped me relax. As for the film, I thought it was okay. My biggest
disappointment was the scene with the dogs. I'll say no more because
of spoilers, but you probably know what I mean. On the plus side,
there was nobody who I thought shouldn't have been playing the part
they had. The stand-out for me was the girl playing Clove. I
thought she was fantastic.

I had a great deal of
trouble choosing a theme for the A to Z challenge so I'm going with
… no theme. Big surprise, huh? I've got a few things written for
other themes I was going to do (flash fiction, eighties stuff), so
I'll still use those, but sometimes it might be pictures or other
bits and pieces I've found. The only thing that hasn't changed since
I signed up is the first post – it's a very easy one for me
:-)

I've sent off the first
chapter of one of the stories I'm revising to two different people
for a critique. I'm plodding on with the rest of the work, so I'm
happy with how that's going. I've also had an awesome idea for a new
story, but I'm not quite sure how it's going to work, so I've written
some notes and am just waiting for it to ferment some more.

To the nice people who have been inviting me to Google+ this week, I'm not ignoring you, I'm not on Google +. Thanks for asking though :-)

There will be a Musical
Impression tomorrow, it's a special celebration one, so I hope you
come back and share a friend's good news!

My Week has been amazing, thank you for asking..Glad you got out with your girls.. I have a 15 year old who is long over due for a movie night with Dad, I'm pretty sure it's going to be the Hunger Games as she is a really big fan. I've been avoiding it because of that whole Rue thing {insert tearful sniff here}..

I do want to see the HG movie in the theatre. Mostly I don't care if I see something on video, but for the big action movies, having the enormous screen with the crazy speakers/sound set-up is totally worth it. Even better if it's on the IMAX screen ;)

The last time I went to the cinema was when I was pregnant with my second child.......this year he's 44yrs. There is a reason it was a film which had many flashing lights , at the time I didn't know I was epiletic.I have seen films on TV AND DVDS.Enjoyed your post. Good luck with the challenge.Yvonne.

I love going to see movies in the theater especially with a big bucket of buttered popcorn. But I don't mind crowds. I haven't gotten to see HG yet. Our babysitter got sick so my husband took my daughter while I stayed with the boy. My writing has been going better since I cut out the bloggig but I miss the regular updates. Glad you are writing.

I agree re: the HG dogs, Sarah. But, in the filmmakers' defense, there just wasn't time to include the lead-up to that scene we both wanted. Otherwise, I think the movie was a great adaptation from the book. And jealous that you got an almost solo viewing! Our movie theater was packed for about 12 showings in a row.

I saw the HG this week too--prior to that, the only movies I'd seen recently in the theater involved cartoon characters. Overall, thought they did a pretty decent job with the subtleties. I agree about the dogs, though.

Hehe, you can interview me any time - I imagine that would be a unique experience :-)

Definitely not the life of any party. I can't bear it if someone I don't know talks to me, and believe it or not, I hate being the centre of attention. It was different when I was younger but my confidence came out of a bottle back then. Bit too much confidence, a few too many bottles and lessons learned - thankfully before I ended up in jail or the gutter ;-)

I'll try to be more succinct with my next review:-) Since you've read two, I assume you're enjoying them?

Ugh, my week was exhausting, with 8 hours of parent conferences on top of still teaching every day. I can't believe there's still another work day to go in this week, but at least it's a shortened day. I was too tired to get any writing done, but I did read a fantastic book. I need to go hunt down the author and beg for an interview ...

I've been planning posts for the A to Z challenge... I've even written a few already! I enjoyed The Hunger Games movie. It's hard not to compare it with the book, but to be fair, you really shouldn't. Two different forms of media, two different approaches to the same story. But I thought it was still very faithful.

I agree with you about comparisons and I try not to do it. I actually think they were reasonably faithful to the book, the additions worked well, and I could see why they left out the things they did. Even the dog scene, I understood that the time needed to show the whole thing was too long. That's why I can't understand why I didn't love it as I expected I would. I'm still glad I saw it, though :-)

My theme for A-to-Z is Pixar. It shall be fun. I'm gonna go see the Hunger Games this weekend for a matinee.

I just got my crits back from a beta reader for my sequel Oculus. Months and months of rewrites ahead. One of the two disliked half of the book lol. So funny. I'm not discouraged...just I know what you do when you put yourself out there.

I think I'll take all of April to digest the crits and then start rewrites in May.

Sarah - I have to agree with you about the Larsson trilogy, but it is absorbing. I'm glad you had a good time at The Hunger Games even if it didn't rank in your mind as one of the best you've ever seen. It's nice to spend time with family isn't it? Good luck with your story and the A-Z challenge, and I look forward to your post tomorrow!

Thank you for not doing the spoilers, I haven't read Hunger Games yet. (I know, I know, I'm slacking), so when you said Clove and all that jazz, I had no idea what you were talking about :)

This week, I managed to hurt my tail bone pretty bad after biting it on a huge patch of ice. Even sitting here to write this hurts..four days later. Was going to go to the mountain today since it's my day off, and go play some but...yea..I'm thinking not... :/

Also, I feel you on the big crowds thing. I'm glad you had a nice night at the movies :)